Embracing sustainable business practices is a critical imperative across industries and regions. Sustainable practices are gaining momentum in the MENA region, with opportunities for companies to use sustainability to build new and better growth paths.
For the security industry, a key focus area is the sustainable use of materials in product manufacturing, packaging, and distribution. While altering the security industry product pipeline doesn’t come without challenges, there are now several more sustainable alternatives for plastic materials. It’s important for the industry to consider what options are available and how businesses can adapt their products accordingly.
An age of new materials
Product design is evolving to meet sustainability demands, and security enterprises have an opportunity to adjust and improve product pipelines accordingly. A major development is the advent of bio-based plastics, made fully or partially from biological resources. Alongside recycled plastics, these alternatives open up new green design opportunities for manufacturers.
Though more sustainable options are becoming available, fossil fuel-based plastics – particularly polycarbonate-based materials – are still widely used in the security industry. Such plastics are long lasting and resilient, but they have disadvantages.
They can contain hazardous substances that harm the environment. If products are disposed of via landfill, their long lifecycle means that impact is extended for a longer time. If disposed of via waste-to-energy facilities, their combustion can contribute to carbon emissions.
Security companies need materials that will maintain the same standard of product quality and longevity. These are core requirements for security products like network cameras, which need to be durable. Luckily, innovations in sustainable plastics mean they are increasingly being recognised as high-end, long-lasting, and robust materials, which can be used in security and surveillance products.
Consistent safety and quality standards
In addition to sustainability considerations, security product manufacturers need to meet customer expectations and comply with regulatory requirements. Any material used in product design requires extensive testing, whether that is testing outdoors to ensure products work correctly in adverse weather conditions, fail-safe tests to ensure they meet fire safety regulations, or electrical testing to ensure they don’t pose a risk to the end-user.
Manufacturers cannot compromise safety in the pursuit of sustainability but there is a limited range of certified sustainable materials that meet regulation requirements, and there is less data available on these newer materials. Thus, t ting is far more extensive for sustainable materials than traditional plastics. With this testing, manufacturers can develop their knowledge of the material and verify its long-term properties.
They must also look to the future. If a product has a lifecycle of 10 years or more, manufacturers cannot be certain whether the materials used to develop that product today won’t be restricted in the future. We are seeing these kinds of efforts across the MENA region. For instance, the UAE will impose a ban on single-use plastic from 2024. Phasing out substances in advance of legal requirements not only ensures readiness for compliance but provides a competitive advantage.
Oversight of the entire chain
As part of their responsibility towards sustainability, security product manufacturers must conduct research into their supply chains to determine where and how product materials have been produced, and measure their wider social and environmental impact. It’s not enough to just ask “Is this product sustainable” as there are additional factors such as labour ethics at play.
There is a lot to consider to ensure security companies are making the most sustainable choice possible, while developing a high-quality, high-performance end product. This balance is easier to achieve through strong collaboration with material providers, as they can share valuable insights into the properties of materials, as well as details of their source.
The switch to sustainability
Despite apparent high quality and ethical value, switching to sustainable plastics can come at a heavy financial cost for manufacturers. This is particularly true if working with a supplier to develop a bespoke material for a unique need, or to pass a specific certification.
However, as those materials become more prolific in the market, their production inevitably becomes more cost efficient. This trend will continue as more manufacturers opt for recycled and bio-based materials over traditional plastics at the start of the product design process.
For example, Axis has committed to ensuring that renewable carbon-based plastic accounts for more than 20 percent of all plastic content in all Axis-designed products launched in 2024.
But it’s not just about future products. It’s not easy to adapt existing products to accommodate new, sustainable materials, but it can be done. This requires resources to make design changes and re-verify new materials to ensure they meet regulatory requirements and maintain the product’s high quality – meeting all the same customer demands (if not more) than the original product.
Achieving a sustainable future isn’t possible without overcoming obstacles. And indeed, it will take a while before ‘green’ product manufacturing is the norm for industries in both the Middle East and worldwide. But with the right approach, considering current product design processes, and a switch to innovative, sustainable materials, security product manufacturers can set a new standard when it comes to sustainable business practices.